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The ASX 200 produced a strong recovery on Monday afternoon to close up +0.2%, more than 0.7% off its late morning low. Westpac (WBC) drove the banks and ASX higher as investors took an increasingly bullish view of its FY25 result, the longer the day progressed – more on the banks later. In typical 2025 fashion, moves on the stock and sector level were very polarised on the first trading day of November, with the financials adding more than +38 points to the main board while materials and healthcare names detracted over -28 points.
The ASX finished mildly higher on the first trading day of November, largely underpinned by a solid day for the banks with the big 4 contributing +36pts to the main boards gain as Westpac reported FY results and rallied – more on their result below.
Wall Street ended October on a strong note, with AI enthusiasm, solid corporate earnings, and looser financial conditions propelling equities to a sixth straight month of gains, while credit markets marked their third consecutive advance.
The ASX200 ended the week down -1.5% as rate-sensitive stocks weighed on the market following Australia’s hotter than expected CPI and Jerome Powell’s message that another Fed rate cut in December was no foregone conclusion. Another strong week by uranium and copper names did little to dent the selling across the healthcare, tech, real estate and retail sectors, with some big and influential names front and centre, dragging the index back under the 8900 level, even as US indices continued to post fresh highs:
The ASX was a story of two tales today, with early gains driven by gold miners and the major banks as global risk sentiment improved following progress in US–China trade talks.
We are making two changes to the Emerging Companies Portfolio
The ASX 200 slipped 0.5% on the penultimate day of October, as strength across lithium, copper, and uranium names failed to offset another weak session for rate-sensitive sectors. Consumer discretionary (-4.2%) and real estate (-2.7%) led the declines, with notable heavyweights Wesfarmers (WES) -7.1% and JB Hi-Fi (JBH) -4.5% dragging the index lower.
The ASX extended its losses on Thursday, as investors continued to digest hotter-than-expected local inflation data and a more cautious tone from US Fed Chair Jerome Powell overnight
We are selling a property holding
The ASX200 finished 1% lower on Wednesday after a hot CPI print dashed hopes of an interest rate cut into Christmas – by the end of the day, futures markets were pricing in a 20% chance of some Christmas joy for mortgage holders and arguably more telling, only one cut at most by next Christmas! Michele Bullock has been warning markets to be conservative with their dovish forecasts, and it’s her crystal ball that’s now looking the clearest.
